Oʻahu DMAP Partners Tour Kāhuli Restoration Efforts

Mahalo to Oʻahu Steering Committee member, Robert Masuda, Deputy Director of Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) for arranging this outing to one of the predator proof snail enclosures on Oʻahu. These predator proof enclosures help with keeping these snails safe when they are reintroduced into the wild.  

We learned that the native forests used to be covered with Kāhuli - Native Hawaiian Tree Snails.  The work the team at the Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) are doing is helping to keep this endemic species surviving while already 90% of these species have vanished. 

These tree snails hold significance to the Native Hawaiian culture.  Many place names, chants and hula are based around these snails that were also known as "Hawaiʻi's jewels of the forest".  These snails are extremely important to Native Hawaiians and to the native ecosystems.  

To learn more about the important work of the Snail Extinction Prevention Program, please visit:  https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/ecosystems/sepp/